“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

As I said in my last post, On Character Arcs: Part 1, The Psychology of Character Arcs, when a character changes in response to an event, it is incredibly important because, very often, it is the change that shows the importance of an event in the first place. What I didn’t say is that, if your character’s arc is a direct result of the events alone, it is going to be incredibly weak - even if the events themselves are strong.

Here are other important points to consider when creating your character--

An Active Arc Is Better Than a Reactive Arc

A character arc that is based solely on reactions is a generic arc because it is one that any character would have in that given situation. If you, personally, were running from assassins for the course of 300 pages, you too would be wary and mistrusting of those around you… it’s what’s expected! When a character is directly shaped by events, he is part of a reactive character arc. That’s not what you want. You want to show off your character’s most interesting traits and remind your audience why he or she is worth writing about in the first place. An active character arc does exactly that. It shows a way of being different from the way most people live their lives - and it is difference in writing that stands out.

Your Character Is Driven By Motivation

To quote Kurt Vonnegut a second time, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” Ask questions before you begin writing a story. What does my character want? How will their motivations change as the story progresses? Your motivation drives your character into the obstacles that change him. Frodo’s desire to protect the shire is what causes him to volunteer to destroy the ring. It is what drives him to say ultimately, “We set out to save the shire, Sam, and it has been saved - but not for me.”

This is an important distinction because it means that motivation is the best tool for bringing about character change! If my character wants to get that water really badly, he will go through some pretty nasty things to get it - and that can cause him to question the value of life in the first place.

JUST REMEMBER: Motivation can only drag your character through these obstacles. How they adapt to these obstacles is what makes them unique.

Personal Growth Isn’t Always One-Sided

Too often characters finish a story by rising to the top by overcoming all adversity and becoming the best version of themselves. That’s fine, but the best fiction emulates life. Very rarely do people become simply “better”. A person’s growth is a multi-faceted thing. A nerd might become good with women by caring less about them than he did before. Uplifting stories are great, but not every story is a story of victory. It’s more important to write something genuine than something peppy.

Your Character’s Personality Should Shape Their World

The strongest of stories intertwine story and character. As I talked about briefly in my post What Could Go Wrong, characters are the driving force of tragic plays. It is Hamlet’s inability to take action is what keeps him spiralling to his doom. Had he taken arms against his sea of troubles and killed his uncle/stepfather, Claudius, as he knelt in prayer, the play would have simply ended. If Hamlet were replaced with John McClane from Die Hard, the play would have ended very differently.

Your Characters Are Made for Their Stories

A character arc should reflect the essence of the story. Take The Godfather for instance. One of the key points of the story is, “You can’t turn your back on family”. The irony is that, in Michael’s attempts to protect his family, he hardens his heart to the point that his wife becomes afraid of him and leaves. Not everyone would become as cold as Michael does throughout the story, but his transformation is perfect for adding a touch of irony into the film.

Guide your characters toward the conclusion that resonates the most profoundly with your readers. Do it elegantly and in a way that shows off your character’s unique personality, and your work might stand the test of time!

A few days ago, I received a message, via Twitter, about a serious problem that writers often face. I decided to use this week’s blog post as an opportunity to answer it it. The message was as follows--

“I struggle with keeping a plot entertaining. I get a riveting idea for a story, but it seems like my stories are always between something. The moments of action are great and well received, but they don’t last long enough.”

-Joanna

Dear Joanna,

It strikes me that this problem is less an issue with your plot ideas, and more an issue with the way you’re writing your individual scenes.

Take Lord of the Rings for example. The basic premise is actually quite simple. The Dark Lord, Sauron, desires a ring of great power. He cannot be allowed to get it. At the Council of Elrond, Frodo is given a daunting task - to destroy the ring in the only way it can be destroyed: by throwing it into the fires of Mount Doom.

Most would agree that this plot has a lot of potential, but few realize how much work Tolkien did to keep things from becoming stagnant. Even using the very same premise, Frodo could have spent the vast majority of the book simply hiking through scenic landscapes and talking about how hard it was to carry the ring so great a distance. He could have snuck into Mordor and simply thrown the ring in the fire and been done with the whole damn thing! That version of the book could have had the exact same characters and a virtually identical plot, but it would never have had the success of the actual book. Why? Because the scenes that compose that story are lacking in conflict.

Now, you have the short solution to your problem: add conflict! Unfortunately, that, by itself, is a balancing act. Forcing conflict will make your story come across as melodrama - which is fine if you're writing a soap opera, but it is unsuitable for any other genre, including comedy. So, we're left with another question:

"How are we to naturally fill the 'between' moments with enough conflict to keep our story entertaining?"

Most of my writing guru colleagues, would probably point to Aristotle’s “Four Types of Conflict”:

Man versus Man

Man versus Nature

Man versus Society

Man versus Self

This might be helpful to some, but at its core, it is only a list of categories for already existing conflicts to be be shoved into. In my opinion, the ability to fill in the “between”, lies in a mode of thinking. Here are some key pieces of advice to help get yourself in the frame of mind to easily generate conflict--

Avoid a “Builder’s Mindset”

“This is going to be really good in a few chapters!”

“Once she finds out Brian’s secret, things will really pick up!”

“If I can just get her back into her lover’s arms somehow, I can continue with the story!”

If this kind of thinking sounds familiar, be very scared. You may be suffering from a Builder’s Mindset. Many writers build their stories like a Jenga tower - stacking one boring block after another until finally, KABOOM! It all comes crashing down!

Don't misunderstand. It’s fine to build a conflict, but you should always be searching for situations of CONSTANT CONFLICT.

For example, due to the nature of the ring, every step Frodo takes, is a step near someone who could try to rob him of it. This kind of conflict is what keeps readers turning the page. Any other conflict in the story must resolve itself - and when it does, you don’t want your characters to be stuck on Cloud 9 on a bright summer’s day… nothing is more boring than characters relieved of their burdens.

Look for Areas Where Your Character’s Goals Might Lead Them to Conflict

Let’s take a completely random goal. Let’s say your first person character wants to leave a forest with a freshly stolen pot of gold. Great. Wonderful. There are a lot of possible conflicts that could arise--

Man versus Leprechaun: The Leprechauns might have a use planned for that pot of gold. At the very least, it probably took them a long time to collect it. They don’t want to see it go.

Man versus Man: You’re stealing gold from cute little forest sprites… The guilt must be tremendous.

Man versus forest creatures: You’re destabilizing the economy for the whole forest. Tinker Bell was just approved for a loan so she could pay the mortgage on the hole in the tree behind the river. She and all her fairy friends now want to kick your ass.

et cetera…

Look for Areas Where Your Character’s Personality Might Lead Them to Conflict

This is typically the driving force of tragic plays. Hamlet’s inability to take action is what keeps him spiralling to his doom. Had he taken arms against his sea of troubles and killed his uncle/stepfather, Claudius, as he knelt in prayer, the play would have simply ended.

Constantly Ask Yourself, “What Could Go Wrong?”

Some of the world’s greatest authors constantly asked themselves this question. Tolkien was one of them. I can vividly imagine how the scene on the mountain Caradhras was brought about - Tolkien bent over his maps, muttering to himself: “Okay… So, I’m saving an orc attack, and the forces of Sauron and Saruman are both too far away… No, we can’t have a character slipping - that would be too melodramatic… No, it's too early for Boromir, and this kind of setting is too open... hm… ah! I bet Saruman could use his magic to force them off of the mountain, and into a place where the conflict is easier to control: the ruins of the Mines of Moria!”

Do this in your own story. Guide the conflict! Let’s say nothing has happened in your story for a while, and your character, Michael, is supposed to meet a super secret CIA contact. If all goes well, he will be able to get his identity, social security number and fingerprints placed back into the system… but what could go wrong?

His contact is not there.
He is there, but refuses to return his identity until Michael does something else.
He is assassinated before Michael can get what he needs.
He is there with a long sheet of taxes that he wasn’t paying the IRS during that comfortable time where he didn’t exist…

In asking yourself what can go wrong, you are, in essence, giving yourself a list of options. From there, choose the one that has the best balance of naturalness and intensity.

By using these modes of thought to keep your story in constant conflict, you cut out the “between”. If you focus on them as you write, your writing will never be the same.